Sawt Falasteen - Emery defends failure to shake hands with Arteta after Villa loss to Arsenal

Tuesday's result in north London left the Gunners five points clear of second-placed Manchester City and six ahead of third-placed Villa as they dealt a blow to the Birmingham club's hopes of a first English title since 1981.

Second-half goals from Gabriel, Martin Zubimendi, Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Jesus did the damage for Arsenal at the Emirates before Villa's Ollie Watkins pulled one back in injury time.

It was an emphatic end to Villa's club record-equalling 11-match winning streak.

At the final whistle, Arsenal manager Arteta, who succeeded Emery as Gunners boss, shared a brief embrace with his backroom staff before going to the opposing dugout to greet his fellow Spaniard.

But Emery had already made his way down the tunnel following a handshake with fourth official Thomas Kirk.

“It is simple,” said Emery when asked about what had had happened.

"You can watch. After I finish the match, my routine is always quick, I shake hands, and I go with my coaches, with my players to the dressing room.

"I was waiting, I was waiting. He (Arteta) was happy, of course he was happy. He was with his coaches. And I decided to go inside. But for me it is no problem."

Emery later told Sky Sports: "Always my routine is go to the opposition coach, shake hands and go inside. If he is not doing the same rule, I can’t wait… it was cold."

Arteta played down the incident by saying: "You saw it, but it's OK, it’s all good. That is part of the game and it’s not unusual at all."

Arsenal had to wait until the second half to show their quality against Villa, with the Gunners seemingly weighed down in recent games by the pressure coming from wanting to end a 22-year-wait to win the Premier League.

But they delivered a statement performance ahead of Manchester City's match against Sunderland on Thursday.

"I'm so happy," said Arteta, adding: "They (Villa) are a superb team, very difficult to play against, and we knew that we were going to have periods throughout the game.

“We talked about emotionally how demanding it was going to be and we struggled in the first 10 minutes. Then we adjusted, got a bit more control. We didn't manage to score and then in the second half we clicked."

S.Abdullah--SF-PST